Posted this on the football side too... I'm going to London tomorrow for a week. I've never been outside of the US so I'm excited to see what a foreign country is like. Has anyone ever been there? Any advice on where to go?

"Oh, that Lankford and McGee, the trio of 'em. They're a one-man wrecking crew."

There's all the historical things to see, of course (Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, etc).Loads of museums if you like that sort of thing - most of the big ones have free entry.Lots of good shows on in the West End (you can get half-price tickets on the day for some of them from the official discount ticket booth in Leicester Square).Other good places to visit:

The London Eye (make sure it's a clear day to make it worthwhile)The London Dungeon (if you have a strong stomach!)The Globe Theatre

Because you're there for a week, it seems you have more than enough time to tour the big tourist spots in greater detail (i.e. Tower of London, Globe Theater, Harrod's). Since you're in London for the first time, it's best to do the traditional tour of London for the first few days and get off the beaten path once you're comfortable there. Better yet, if you have relatives/friends in the area like I do, they'll show you to the more non-touristy boroughs around London.

Last time I had gone was in August when it coincided with the beginning of soccer season and it's a pretty big deal with a few London-based clubs in the Premiership. I had been to two soccer games on two different sides of town (at Chelsea and at West Ham) and the atmosphere is terrific, especially at West Ham.

I was supposed to be back on Wednesday but because of weather delaying flights and mass chaos at LaGuardia we didn't get a flight back until tonight. The trip was unbelievable though. London was a blast, we got to see everything we wanted to and there was definitely a lot to see to say the least. We were staying only a short walk from the Buckingham Palace area and Hyde, Green, and St. James Parks (I believe the name is St. James ), right in central London... it was a perfect position. We basically walked everywhere, we ended up taking the subway only once to the Tower of London, but we enjoyed getting out in the city and seeing everything on our own. We actually walked all the way from the Buckingham Palace area past the Thames River and to the London Eye, and even farther to the Imperial War Museum. The Eye was sweet, it was as good as I'd heard it was, and the War Museum was unbelievable. The museums we saw there were fantastic- we also checked out the Natural History Museum (which was in a beautiful building, btw), which was neat, the British Museum with a cool mummy exhibit, and my favorite, the Churchill War Rooms. I am not usually a museum person but in London I became one. We also hit the Tower of London where we took a tour, Westminster Abby, which I found to be amazing considering it was built hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and we saw the play Spamelot, based on Monty Python, and that was absolutely hilarious. I don't ever go to plays but this one was great.

The highlight of the trip was the cricket match we went to see though at the Oval. Surrey vs. Middlesex, a rivalry game between two bordering counties. I'd never seen the sport before, and I knew nothing about the rules or anything. But I picked up pretty quickly and I was actually into it by the end of the game when Surrey hit a walk-off (but I don't think they call it that ). I won't say I like it better than baseball because my main problem with it was the intensity level was pretty low until the end, but it was definitely a cool sport to say the least.

The food was good everywhere we went, and I thought the weather was nice. It rained everyday but that's London for you. The temperature was in the 60's and 70's the whole time, making it easy to walk everywhere. I thought the coolest thing was all the people were friendly for the most part, and it didn't have the feel of a huge city at times. I just liked the whole set up of the city and I thought the tradition with Buckingham Palace and the guards was really special. And also, they drive like madmen over there. It's awesome to watch because people drive fast and make decisions a lot faster than here it seems. But they are smart and they aren't jerks on the road like we are here in America.

Also, we walked right around where the bomb threat was today. Pretty scary to think about, I would have been scared to say the least if we were still there, but it's great to see the British Police are on top of things. I felt completely safe during my stay and it was a shock to see this happen today.

And oh yeah, I saw The Artful Dodger Pub. Obviously named after a Cafe Member.

"Oh, that Lankford and McGee, the trio of 'em. They're a one-man wrecking crew."

sportsaddict wrote: And oh yeah, I saw The Artful Dodger Pub. Obviously named after a Cafe Member.

Haha, I've past by there as well, but last time I was in London, I had been to the White Lion (kind of a tourist trap in my opinion when I was there), the Eagle, the Boleyn, and a few in the Fulham and Chelsea area but alas I forgot the names of the places. We have a few authentic pubs in the L.A. area, but nothing beats the real deal of course.

Glad to see you tried just about everything in London. I haven't gone to a cricket match simply because watching the international tests that ran all day on TV (minus lunch and tea breaks) bored me to tears. It's fun to play it though. I joined up a pick-up game of cricket in a park near my uncle's place with some locals and they were more than kind enough to get me up to scratch in learning the game.

No surprise about the weather, but last time I had gone for 3 weeks in England, I had caught just one 10 minute thundershower and that was all the rain I had seen on vacation there. I was there in August which I reckon is the busiest month around town. It was pretty humid the day I landed in London and arrived in Essex, where my uncle lives, and bloody hot three days later in my first full day in London. Try 97 degrees and sticky. It was really pleasant thereafter though. Sunny, but very comfortable (70-75F I'll say, 80 tops).

A good deal of people drive like madmen all over Europe, but from my experience, driving is a lot more enjoyable back there than it is here. I suppose I say that because L.A. will always be L.A. but the roads especially outside of town and in the countryside, just have more character. I remember there's this roundabout near Colchester that has something like 6-7 roundabouts intertwined which can intimidate many an American driver with just deciding what turns to make to get out of it and in the right direction to the place you're going, but it's fun. I hear that it's good practice that even if you had right of way in the roundabout that it's good to let the other guy go first in front if the circumstances allow and such practice is encouraged there.